Haughernaut: More specifically, here's what you should do:
-Make all the game-specific options blue boxes again. Dual-Core is a free speedup and is 80% of why games are playable at all in Dolphin, and VBeam Speed Hack usually breaks more things than it improves nowadays.
-Graphics > Enhancements: Your GPU should probably be able to handle 3x or 4x IR fine with the amount of AA you're using. Also, don't use the FXAA shader if you're already using normal AA unless you *really* think it's a visual improvement. (I don't, it tends to fuck up on 2D textures.) And re-check Scaled EFB Copy, it usually solves the issue of things still looking all blocky at higher IRs. (Per-Pixel Lighting is also usually pretty nice, try it out.)
-Graphics > Hacks: You can set EFB Copies to Texture – any games that require it to be set to RAM usually already have that set in their .ini, so as long as you don't open the graphics config while in-game, only those games'll use EFB to RAM. (EFB to RAM is actually a rather large slowdown in many cases, especially on OpenGL, thus you should stay on EFB to Texture when you can, unless it's not enough of a speed issue for you to leave it on RAM all the time.) (Also, uncheck Cache, it breaks shit and is rarely a speedup.) Otherwise, you're actually mostly fine here – Ignore Format Changes and Fast Depth don't usually cause too many problems, but uncheck 'em if you have any. OpenMP Texture Decoder also helps in a few games and likely helps when using replacement textures.
-Graphics > Advanced: You're perfectly fine here, oddly enough.
-Config > Audio: Uncheck LLE on Separate Thread (it just breaks shit when using LLE) and use DSP HLE – you shouldn't need LLE at all for this game.
-Config > General: This one's the biggest WTF here. Recheck Dual-Core and Idle Skipping; they're both free speedups in the vast majority of cases, and they're automatically disabled on games they break. Dual-Core is the biggest slowdown you've given yourself.
Any audio popping you have is usually related to not running the game at full speed. I'd expect your CPU to be able to handle it, but I'm not exactly a Xenoblade benchmarker, so lemme give you more likely-necessary advice:
-Follow the GPU part of the Laptop Performance Guide. GPUs these days downclock themselves whenever they can, but their heuristics for that don't account for the unconventional way Dolphin uses the GPU, so they tend to repeatedly downclock while Dolphin's running. This guide has instructions on how to fix that.
-Overclock your CPU, preferably heavily, and change out your cooler and thermal paste if you're using the stock stuff. Dolphin's incredibly CPU-intensive, despite anyone's misconceptions.
-Make all the game-specific options blue boxes again. Dual-Core is a free speedup and is 80% of why games are playable at all in Dolphin, and VBeam Speed Hack usually breaks more things than it improves nowadays.
-Graphics > Enhancements: Your GPU should probably be able to handle 3x or 4x IR fine with the amount of AA you're using. Also, don't use the FXAA shader if you're already using normal AA unless you *really* think it's a visual improvement. (I don't, it tends to fuck up on 2D textures.) And re-check Scaled EFB Copy, it usually solves the issue of things still looking all blocky at higher IRs. (Per-Pixel Lighting is also usually pretty nice, try it out.)
-Graphics > Hacks: You can set EFB Copies to Texture – any games that require it to be set to RAM usually already have that set in their .ini, so as long as you don't open the graphics config while in-game, only those games'll use EFB to RAM. (EFB to RAM is actually a rather large slowdown in many cases, especially on OpenGL, thus you should stay on EFB to Texture when you can, unless it's not enough of a speed issue for you to leave it on RAM all the time.) (Also, uncheck Cache, it breaks shit and is rarely a speedup.) Otherwise, you're actually mostly fine here – Ignore Format Changes and Fast Depth don't usually cause too many problems, but uncheck 'em if you have any. OpenMP Texture Decoder also helps in a few games and likely helps when using replacement textures.
-Graphics > Advanced: You're perfectly fine here, oddly enough.
-Config > Audio: Uncheck LLE on Separate Thread (it just breaks shit when using LLE) and use DSP HLE – you shouldn't need LLE at all for this game.
-Config > General: This one's the biggest WTF here. Recheck Dual-Core and Idle Skipping; they're both free speedups in the vast majority of cases, and they're automatically disabled on games they break. Dual-Core is the biggest slowdown you've given yourself.
Any audio popping you have is usually related to not running the game at full speed. I'd expect your CPU to be able to handle it, but I'm not exactly a Xenoblade benchmarker, so lemme give you more likely-necessary advice:
-Follow the GPU part of the Laptop Performance Guide. GPUs these days downclock themselves whenever they can, but their heuristics for that don't account for the unconventional way Dolphin uses the GPU, so they tend to repeatedly downclock while Dolphin's running. This guide has instructions on how to fix that.
-Overclock your CPU, preferably heavily, and change out your cooler and thermal paste if you're using the stock stuff. Dolphin's incredibly CPU-intensive, despite anyone's misconceptions.
More on CPU usage misconceptions: (Show Spoiler)
<@skid_au> fishing resort is still broken: http://i.imgur.com/dvPiQKg.png
<@neobrain> dafuq
<+JMC47> no dude, you're just holding the postcard upside down
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<@Lioncash> pauldachz in charge of shitposting :^)
<@neobrain> dafuq
<+JMC47> no dude, you're just holding the postcard upside down
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<@Lioncash> pauldachz in charge of shitposting :^)
